Can positive thoughts injure another person?

Some positive thought therapy is harmless and maybe builds social capital of affection and community. Surely it’s good for me to concentrate on the welfare of someone else even if the magic mystery ray doesn’t actually transmit; if the patient is present, I can’t imagine that the zillion subconscious signals we are so good at picking up from each other (not to mention an actual hug) won’t do him some real, physical, good.

It’s a wonderful world that has such effective public health measures in place – like plumbing that separates sewage from drinking water, and widespread vaccination conferring “herd immunity” – that obscurantist, self-indulgent, solipsistic behavior causes so little real harm, making cases like Neumann’s newsworthy. Good science protects the responsible and the Darwin Award contenders alike.